Brian Smith

Certified CoachAsia-Pacific Representative

Based in Australia, Brian Smith serves as The Harwood Institute's Asia-Pacific Representative.

Brian works with organizations and local communities to include the voices and experience of those who are not heard, marginalized or dismissed as alien or “other” in the shaping of understanding, policy and action. This consistent thread has motivated his focus on organizational and community change in diverse leadership roles within the Uniting Church and the non-government sector in Australia and generated a record of innovation, unconventional thinking and bold action.

As Executive Officer of the Local Community Services Association in New South Wales, Brian became an internationally recognized Results Based Accountability practitioner. He conducted the first RBA training in China with the Beijing Vantone Foundation in 2014. That year he was also instrumental in bringing the Harwood Institute to Australia to conduct the first Public Innovators Lab in the southern hemisphere. He believes the Institute’s insights into the way communities function and its practice of deep listening, engagement and understanding are particularly relevant to Australia at this point in its social and political journey.

Spending time with his wife Sue and adult children Stephen David, and Michael, Michael’s wife Monica and their daughter Nicole, is his constant priority. In addition, he follows his passion for gardening, cooking and photography and, convinced that understanding between the West and China is a 21st century essential, is currently attempting to learn Mandarin.